I have worn this Vision Kust waterproof jacket for a few months now, including through some of the heaviest and most persistent rain I can remember being out and about in. Now of course you’d expect what is not a cheap waterproof jacket to be properly waterproof, but I have worn a few different jackets over the years and some have offered, let’s say, “variable degrees of resistance” to heavy and persistent rain - well this rather smart Vision Kust jacket (means coast in English) is one of the really good ones……..

I was wearing the rather good Scierra C&R jacket before this one, but as good as that Scierra one is, I do think that this Vision Kust jacket seems as if it was almost purposefully designed for lure anglers. With a name like Kust it has been designed for fishing around saltwater (lure and fly?) and it’s very well cut so that absolutely no part of the jacket gets in the way and annoys me while I am casting/fishing or walking. To be fair though, nothing about that Scierra jacket annoyed me either and I think it’s a great bit of kit. I tend to wear XL clothes and the Kust jacket in an XL is the perfect fit for me, and when it gets cold I can easily layer up underneath it without ever feeling restricted. I like this. There are a few pockets if needs be, but to be honest I don’t tend to use them save for stuffing a hat into one of them or something like that, and there aren’t loads of pockets sticking out all over the place like they can do on some fly fishing jackets (and bug the proverbial out of me).

As with the Scierra C&R jacket, there’s not a hint of any saltwater damage on any of the (nylon?) zips, which to be fair I would expect considering that it’s a jacket designed for use on the coast, or kust! It’s a good length to wear with waders and I just like lure fishing in the thing, or rather it’s a good jacket to wear when I need one albeit I’d rather we could spend our lives fishing in shorts and t-shirts. But we can’t, and a decent waterproof jacket is in my view as important as rods and reels in our fishing.

I still haven’t found a waterproof jacket which lets zero water in through the sleeve area while you’re fishing in heavy rain, and this Kust jacket is no different. The actual sleeve design is a little fiddly to tighten down after you have put the jacket on, but it’s perfectly comfortable in use - as clever as Vision are trying to be though, when you’re casting and retrieving all the time in heavy rain, you’re going to get some water coming in however tightly you secure the elastic sort of velcro strap design thing. The actual cuffs on the jacket extend out slightly over the top of your hand in what I assume is an attempt to try and keep as much water from getting in as possible, but in reality it makes no difference - fish in heavy rain and you’re going to get wet sleeves. It’s the way it is. This isn’t a complaint by the way, because it’s no worse than many jackets I have fished in and I expect this to happen, albeit I’d love it if it didn’t!

What more can I say? I love this Vision Kust jacket for my lure fishing. It packs down pretty compactly and fits into the rucksack I carry most often, it dries out pretty quickly when you’ve been out in a downpour, it’s nice and light to wear, and as I said, it doesn’t annoy me in any way when I am actually fishing. Wear a baseball cap in heavy rain and the hood works well, and as with the overall jacket design, it’s a hood design that doesn’t remotely bug me when in use. Nice one Vision I reckon.